Check out joining the Potters Council ( www.potterscouncil.org ) for more networking possibilities, peer mentoring opportunities, discounts on books, magazines, and DVDs, health insurance, credit card merchant programs, and many other member benefits.

Check out joining the Potters Council ( www.potterscouncil.org ) for more networking possibilities, peer mentoring opportunities, discounts on books, magazines, and DVDs, health insurance, credit card merchant programs, and many other member benefits.

I saw some amazing uses of 3D printing at a couple of the NCECA shows. I think it is a new toy and will become more common as people explore its potential.Marcia

Can't stop the digital revolution. It will have its place. Look at where digital photography has gone. World renouned museums have digital prints in their collections. The digital work Iis beautiful.but......

It doesn't have the soul like old school analog eg. Film/silver gelatin fiber based prints.

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I have heard this argument over the past 30 years or so. I started a computer lab with a grant for music and art back in the late 80's. We had many on the staff that did not believe in the technologies for the classroom. I saw it as a way of reaching students that did not take art, I had a lot of nerds in class! We worked with photo editors, 2D and 3D animation, and in the beginning a music teacher team taught the course, final products being computer animated movies. I have seen some amazing artists that moved their work to the digital medium and their method of working is pure magic to watch. In the world of animation, it is mostly all digital now, money, money, money. To do the stuff done today, could never be done for two reasons: tools and time. I don't believe that pottery, or sculpture is in danger, but know that hacks will copy for commercial walmart type use very soon. The world of copyright law is in for some real upturns! I would love to get my hands on a 3D printer to try out some stamp ideas, some tools thoughts, and some maquettes for planning out projects to scale. Things will change, but I'll bet potters will be around in 2525 and on!

Slightly off topic, but related to Benzine and Pres's posts. I was looking for a bisqued goblet blank for a Medieval History unit I am doing. I needed 70. Went to the scrape and bake store. They were going to charge me $25.00 for each one ! I went to the dollar store. You can buy finished glass stemmed goblets for a buck. I also found 3 inch in diameter terracotta flower pots, 3 in a pack for $2.00. I would only need 24 packs. How this relates to technology is that the world is smaller, and mass production is now rediculously cheap. I know you can't have it both ways. Inexpensive product when you choose to buy from the dollar store, and expensive product when you choose to sell your own hand made goblets.
TJR.

Those thoughts are often on my mind too ... I bought a bag full of sandbox toys for $13 at Target and get to wondering how much some person made who was running the machine ... then read an article about how the most significant social/financial event currently happening is the growth of a middle class in Africa and the Third World because of manufacturing for the wealthier nations.
The younger generations still like handmade, they just don't care in the same way about who did it. In twenty years, will they care how?

I hope not. I don't. I judge an object by the object, NOT by who made it, how, or where. Judging a art object by how it was made or where or by whom is like judging a person by who his/her parents are, what their social status, or how much money they have instead of getting to know the person.

I hope not. I don't. I judge an object by the object, now by who made it, how, or where. Judging a art object by how it was made or where or by whom is like judging a person by who his/her parents are, what their social status, or how much money they have instead of getting to know the person.

Jim

Judging an object by the materials it is made out of, and how sustainable they are, or are not, is part of being a globally and environmentally responsible consumer I believe. To really score high on my scale of successful objects, one has to work in myriad ways. I think the days of purchasing or evaluating objects at face value without a thought to who made them, under what conditions, and if they have been shipped half way around the world several times to be assembled in various countries by grossly underpaid workers are at an end. If an object is not recycle able and is disposable I think twice (although this is not perhaps the kind of objects that we were discussing in this thread). For me, aesthetic design is just part of the picture.

If an object is not recycle able and is disposable I think twice (although this is not perhaps the kind of objects that we were discussing in this thread). For me, aesthetic design is just part of the picture.

There has been a very well done study that compares the "green-ness" of the reuseable ceramic mug and the disposable cup. Environmentally... the disposible comes out on top.

Green is not always as it seems. Lots of what I call "greenwashing" happens...... appears green but it isn't.

If an object is not recycle able and is disposable I think twice (although this is not perhaps the kind of objects that we were discussing in this thread). For me, aesthetic design is just part of the picture.

There has been a very well done study that compares the "green-ness" of the reuseable ceramic mug and the disposable cup. Environmentally... the disposible comes out on top.

Green is not always as it seems. Lots of what I call "greenwashing" happens...... appears green but it isn't.

best,

......................john

Good point, although I guess I wonder what the throw away cup is made of. Also, how many styrofoam cups does one throw away, at say 3 cups a day, before you go through a sturdy ceramic mug? However, I agree that what appears "green" at first glance often needs some analysis these days.

"So, what to do? The simple solution is to endeavour to use your mug more than 1,000 times, which even the studies most heavily backed by the disposable cup industry will be unable to deny is more eco-friendly (and for keen tea-drinkers, not too much of a challenge).But be warned. It might be more difficult than you think to reach your target; the average ceramic mug in the workplace is apparently only used 50 times. It's up to you to maintain a steady hand, never drop your cup and make sure, in 10 years' time, that that Global Warming (Help I'm Melting!) mug is still sitting pretty on your desk, having clocked up thousands of tea rounds."

Adharanand Finn is the author of Make a Difference at Work

There was just another recent study that showed that a an electric car is more damaging to the environment than a gas burner. You have to drive it so many miles before it is even a break even... that most peo[ple using electrics will never reach that level of total mileage to offset the CO2 generation.

So all is not always as it first seems. Takes a lot of research to know what is actually real.

I hope not. I don't. I judge an object by the object, NOT by who made it, how, or where. Judging a art object by how it was made or where or by whom is like judging a person by who his/her parents are, what their social status, or how much money they have instead of getting to know the person.

Jim

Judging an object by the materials it is made out of, and how sustainable they are, or are not, is part of being a globally and environmentally responsible consumer I believe. To really score high on my scale of successful objects, one has to work in myriad ways. I think the days of purchasing or evaluating objects at face value without a thought to who made them, under what conditions, and if they have been shipped half way around the world several times to be assembled in various countries by grossly underpaid workers are at an end. If an object is not recycle able and is disposable I think twice (although this is not perhaps the kind of objects that we were discussing in this thread). For me, aesthetic design is just part of the picture.

That's all peachy keen that you feel that way, but it has nothing to do with what I'm talking about which is appreciation of the artistic merit of an object.

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